I'm baaack!

A friend recently informed me that it has been almost a year and a half since my last post - wow! The fact she even looked that up made me feel guilty somehow - thanks Annette!

The truth is, things are finally starting to settle down a little. Ben, my baby, turns 5 tomorrow and in one week he starts Kindergarten. For the first time in almost 12 years, I will be child free during the day. I'm giddy with excitement, let me tell you! I wasn't ready for this day with Katie...nor Ethan...and definitely like my little Micah. But Ben is ready. I'm ready. We're doing this!

A quick update for my 2nd 1st post:

As mentioned, my baby turns 5 tomorrow, August 1st. 5 years ago I was stressing out over who in the world would babysit my other 3 when the time came for me to have my baby. We were stationed in D.C., I hadn't yet moved on base & met my soon to be BFF Jacklyn, one of the few people EVER that I'd be able to trust with my kids. But God provided, someone from my church stepped up and, though not ideal, it all worked out. And Baby Ben came into the world kicking & screaming :)

Then, in 2 weeks, my firstborn will celebrate her 12th birthday.

WoW.

Those birthdays just keep on coming, making me older & older. I'll post more on her later but need to know is that she starts middle school next week, something I am refusing to stress over. She's covered in prayer, she has strong morals...she'll be fine.

Ethan is 10 and going through a really rough period right now. My little sweet boy has developed a smart mouth and we're dealing with it. Pray for him. I think he needs a good friend, among other things.

Little Micah Fisher is still Mr. Sweetie except he has now transferred all his love to my new sister in law, Juli. And her bridesmaid. And the female DJ at her wedding. I'm nursing a serious broken heart over that one!

We're all good, despite job & financial stress. We're happy, incredibly blessed in the health & love department, and really...isn't that what matters most?

Oh, and I started a photography business with my sister, Louise! It's a life long dream and God seriously led me to this point and I am SO excited! A little overwhelmed, but excited!

Forever Photography is on Facebook and we have a website! www.foreverphotog.com - all the other cool names were taken ;) (Just kidding, business partner...I really do like the name!)

Since I know I have really only 3 die hard fans, I've tagged you three to receive emails every time i update. You were the only three that nagged me to restart the blog :D
Let me know if that gets inconvenient.

I also made it mobile phone capable. So you can view it on your smart phone in an easier to read mode than a regular sized webpage. If you have a not so smart phone, you're outta luck ;)

Anyway, I love you girls - Jacklyn, Annette, & Angie - and this is for you! (Let me know when you are sick of the minute details of my boring life!)

Nashville

So my wonderful mother in law, Jody, called us up about a month ago and asked if we wanted to meet her in Nashville for the weekend, sometime before school. She was having severe grandchildren withdrawals and, well, who am I to keep them from their grandparents?!

Chad has 5 days straight off, every third week - pretty awesome, right? So, we planned the two night stay in a motel (with a pool, a MUST), for this past weekend. Jody insisted that all four kids stay in her room, which means Chad & I had a lovely king sized bed and room to ourselves...HEA-VEN.

Seriously, have I mentioned how much I love my mother in law today?!?!?!

She is about the only person I know that thinks that sort of thing is fun. I'd almost rather eat paint that spend two whole days in a motel room with my own kids. They are great kids, well behaved (though energetic) kids, in my (and Jody's) opinion, but it's just usually not a relaxing environment. You find out just *how* long they can really watch cartoons. Turns out, not that long.

Anyway, so we met up and she was in Grandchild Heaven, loving all over her grandbabies, and Chad & I were in, well, Vacation Heaven. We all went swimming, walked the huge Ole Opry Mall, petted stingrays (not me, of course -gross AND dangerous!), played putt putt golf in the dark (Glow Golf!), ate tons of junk food (IHOP, the kids' favorite), swam some more, and watched a lot of cable tv (realized I REALLY miss cable tv!).

The highlight of the weekend for me was catching up with old friends from Japan. We met Jenny & Kurtis about 5 years ago when we were all stationed in Japan. Jenny and I were pregnant together - she with her first, Aidyn, and me with Micah. They were born 11 days apart. We haven't seen them since we left Japan in June of 2005.

We found each other on myspace about 6 months ago and, lo and behold, they live in Nashville now! They picked us up Saturday night and took us to Wild Bill's Buffalo Wings - so delicioso! Of course, I talked so much that in two hours I managed to eat just 5 of my 12 wings. Luckily Chad was there to help me out ;)

We talked, laughed, and caught up on who is stationed where, who got out of the Air Force, and how hard it has been to get a job and home in this ecomony. They were in the same boat we are now, until recently. Up until the middle of June of this year, they were living with his dad, looking for a decent job, then trying to find a house with some land in their price range and area. They ended up living 30 miles outside of Nashville in a beautiful doublewide on a permanent foundation, on 5 acres of land. It's like they have my house!!!

They begged us to move to Nashville, come visit any time, stay with them when Chad had interviews, etc. It was like we had never been away from each other the past 4 years!

So, that said, we've already started following up on some pointers they gave us on jobs in the Nashville area. We actually looked there when we first got out of the military but since we didn't know much about the local job market, we didn't have much to go on and eventually quit looking. When we first discussed where we wanted to live two years ago, Nashville was #1 on my list.

It just feels like we've come full circle and that maybe the whole weekend was an appointment set up by God. We'll see. If I've learned anything, it's to not put my own expectations on anything and just let God work it all out.

So, that said, here are the many pictures:

An Aquarium Restaurant in the Opry Mills Mall

Stingray petting aquarium

Indoor Carousel

Mammaw Jody - isn't she gorgeous?



Yep, she & Ben petted the stingrays!

Check out Micah's face! I was totally expecting him to fall in and me have to push Chad in after him!

I have always loved seahorses. Chad says, but they don't DO anything!
To which I reply, they're beautiful - they don't have to do anything!

See the three that couldn't be bothered to look at the camera?

Glow Golf - it was pitch black in there but my flash did it's job. See Ben & Micah in the background, making their golf balls glow? It was their favorite part of the day, I think LOL.

See Ben cheat?

See Micah shoot like a pro?

Right after this picture, Micah took a huge swing and about decapitated Chad & Ben. How sweet is this shot, though?!

Proof he *can* still move his butt ;)

She had a pretty bad case of poisen oak or sumac and wouldn't let us take many pictures of her face :(

I got in the pool with my tshirt on over a bathing suit and Katie flipped out. I told her, I used to have to wear a skirt & shirt to swim! They have NO idea sometimes LOL.

You know me, always playing.

Fun time! Me & Chad, Jenny & Kurtis - isn't she gorgeous? She is going to be a dental assistant in 2 more weeks, which is perfect because she has a perfect, white smile!

Views like this one made me appreciate the beautiful state of Tennessee all over again.

By the way, I'll try to post more often now. I've been so busy house & job hunting, but I do want to document the process as we go, if only for myself. Thank you for all the great comments of encouragement lately. I take each one to heart and they are always timely and helpful.
God bless!

Birthdays and more...

It has been such a hectic week, so I haven't been on the computer as much as I'd like. First, Chad's 31st birthday this past Monday, then Ethan's 8th birthday on Thursday, his & Conner's birthday party yesterday, plus Katie & Ethan went to Vacation Bible School all week long, and now Father's Day. I am SO broke right now!

Some of my best memories were the birthday parties I had each year. Mom didn't spend a lot on presents, but she did go all out on a cake, order pizza, and sometimes got crazy with her Paint program and a printer. I remember many a birthday coming home to birthday banners all over the house, streamers everywhere. Plus, she always allowed me to invite 5-8 friends for a sleep over. Add in the other 7 or 8 kids living at home and it was a house full! We'd rent movies, eat pizza, and stay up all night laughing and talking about boys...it was the best of times!

Now, having my own four, I wonder how in the world she did it. The money, the stress of 10 teenagers in the house (me & Beth plus 8 friends, usually)...it's a wonder she is so sane!


I realized this week just how much Ethan is like his dad and how much Katie & I are alike. Chad could care less about birthdays, especially parties , and apparently Ethan feels the same way. He has been so laid back about it all that I really think I could have gotten away with no party, just taking him & his friends to swim, then eat brownies for cake, (which is what we did on his actual bday Thursday) and he'd have been happy. Live & learn!


Unfortunately, Katie is just like her momma and already planning her big birthday bash, including a sleepover of God know how many squealing girls. My head hurts already!


So, here are some pictures from Ethan's birthday and Conner & Ethan's joint birthday party:

When asked what he wanted for his birthday dinner & cake, Ethan chose french toast and brownies. That's my boy!

June 18

Mom says he looks just like me. I see more of my brothers Aaron & Neal in him. They look like Mom, I look like Dad.

He was being a goober & needed some loosening up...and I'm just the girl for that job!


After eating french toast & brownies, off to VBS with friends Violet & Robbie.

Saturday's birthday party at a local elementary school:

June 20

It was about 95 degrees outside when we started the party, at 5pm

Popsicles were a great idea on such a hot day.


I love that all of my family shows up for birthday parties, even for the babies. Only ones missing were Casey & Neal...that's 7 out of 9 kids present!

Michele says we "Smiths" smile with ALL our teeth. I didn't know there was any other way, but we do have some big grins, don't we!



I told you it was going on the blog, girls! Right after this, Louise probably came over & told us to socialize with someone else besides Michele. As if!







She really was happy to be there, I just caught her off guard :)







See all those curious, envious faces? They were ready to help with opening gifts at a moment's notice!

Today is Father's Day, so a special shout out to my dad, my babies' daddy, and all the great dads out there. I've said it before, there is nothing sexier than a dad with his kids, playing with them, holding on to their little hand, giving them a piggy back ride, throwing a football to his son...it always melts my heart!

June 21

Happy Father's Day!

Is it *my* turn yet?

Husbands kill me sometimes. Mine most recently ;)

See, he went fishing Wednesday morning, on his first of two days off. Some humongus bass was out there calling his name (though, come to find out, the fish was just joshin' him). So, he goes fishing, leaving me for about 6 hours.

Now, the plan was, when he got home, I would go hang out with a sister or 3 for some quality girl time (aka American Idol & Greys Anatomy time).

Except, as I go to walk out the door, the Love of My Life (or LOML as I sometimes think of him) pulls the guilt card:

"Are you sure you want to leave me?

Not permanently; just for, oh, six hours or so.

"But didn't you miss me while I was gone?"

Yes, and it was so much fun, I want *you* to try it.

"But, what will I do with out you?"

Oh, this is going to be fun....you'll chase Ben & Micah out of the mud about 132145346 times, change their clothes at least twice due to the times they made it to the mud while you were busy chewing/sleeping/blinking. And don't forget the 34 drinks you'll pour, the 8 apples you'll peel, and the 234 fights you'll referee.

But good news! You'll miss me so much after 4 hours of all that, you'll be ready to kiss my feet, give me that last bite of candy bar, and not think about leaving me to fish again for, oh, about 12 hours.

Enough said.

And I left. Of course, Ben followed me to the car, crying to "doe wiff you, mommy." When they do this to Chad, he barely misses a step. I sat in the driveway for 5 minutes, comforting Ben, then reassuring myself he wasn't still sobbing his heart out as I drove away.

I did have fun, though I tend to rush through everything, trying to get in as much "fun" as I can before the guilt gets totally overwhelming. Thank God for DVR & Beth! We fast forwarded through commercials, Paula's drunk ramblings, and Kara's over emphasized everything.

My favorite sound bite from the night:

As Kara rambles on and on about Adam being a ROCK GOD (*gag*), Jessica screams at the tv,
"Give Paula back her pills, crazy!"

I must say, I was shocked when Kris Allen (aka Goat Boy as I like to call him) was safe. He is my fave on the show, then Goecky or whatever his name is. Adam makes me want to take a shower...wash some of the dirt off. Seriously, if he's here, who's running Hell?!

I love to say that last one to Chad when he's in a really bad mood and watch his head explode :)

I must add, I came home that night to find the two most adorable little boys waiting up way past their bedtime, just to see me (Katie & Ethan had school the next morning). My grin was a mile wide, my heart so happy to see them after just 3 hours away. We laid on the bed talking for 20 minutes about God, monners (monsters), Jesus living in our hearts, and tunner (thunder).

I had the sweetest video of part of our conversation from that night that I planned on sharing, but I accidentally erased it from the memory card before saving it on my laptop. But I have one picture of that night. They were describing thunder to me and how it sounds, using their little hands to show how loud it was:

Little Ben is so serious! He said, Tunner makes me huwt (hurt).

Throwing in some pictures of hot hubby pushing the boys on the swing Wednesday:

Check out Ben's sweet smile! I couldn't get both of them to focus at the same time, but each one had enormous grins on their faces.

Micah has the more infectious smile & laugh. Looks like he's about to jump LOL!

P.S. There is nothing sexier than a father playing with his children. Melts my heart everytime. Doesn't hurt he's the cutest thing since, well, anyone!